Toddler hit by car in Worcester

WORCESTER — An 18-month-old boy was seriously injured when he was apparently hit by the family car on Chester Street about 2:15 this afternoon.

The child and his mother were rushed by ambulance to the hospital. The mother suffered a shoulder injury, according to police.

Investigators believe the car was unoccupied when it began to move down the driveway. The mother told police she was exiting the vehicle with her child when it started rolling backward down the sloping driveway, hitting both the mother and child.

The car, a bronze-colored Chrysler, came to rest across the street, on the lawn of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 67 Chester St., where it lodged on top of a boulder.

A pair of gray and pink tennis shoes were strewn across the street.

A witness told the Telegram & Gazette he was driving when he saw a woman screaming as she sat in the middle of the road holding a small child, who appeared unresponsive. He said that a woman in a pink jacket who was jogging by stopped and identified herself as a lifeguard and performed CPR on the child until an ambulance crew arrived minutes later.

He said that the woman who had been holding the child called her husband. He appeared shortly afterward. When emergency personnel arrived, the child appeared still unresponsive

The witness said he took the child's grandfather to get the couple's daughter from preschool. He arrived with them at the house about 3 p.m. After speaking with police for several minutes, the grandfather took the girl, who was holding a pink backpack, into the house.

Police had not determined what caused the car to move in reverse and planned to tow it to police headquarters for a mechanical inspection.

The single-family Cape home is owned by Parker James Roaf, who bought the property in 2004, according to the city assessor's office. Mr. Roaf married Sheryl Lynn Fletcher in 2006, and according to the city's data and confirmed by neighbors, the couple has a daughter who will turn 5 years old later this month.

The street was closed and traffic backed up, as school buses tried to maneuver around the scene. Residents were clearly shaken by the incident that occurred near Bjorklund Avenue. The site is on a residential hillside west of Grove Street.

“They're just the nicest couple,” said Fran Daley, who said her granchildren and the couple's children would play together. While she was unsure of the spelling, she said the boy's name is Bennett.

Police scanners indicated that the victims were transported to the UMass Memorial Medical Center. Several ambulances were seen at that time turning down Belmont Street.